Seeing as the 2013 thread is now buried, and the franchise tags have been assigned, I thought it was time to start a 2014 thread for Free Agency and the draft.

Let's start with the team everyone wants to see do well - Oakland. Reggie better already have deals sewn up for Jared Veldheer and Lamarr Houston, as he decided not to franchise tag either of them. With $65 million cap space to play with and a complete overhaul required, letting either of them go would be moronic. Particularly as they are pretty much the exact calibre of player he should be looking to pick up in free agency in the first place.

Sounds like Jared Allen is going to be out the door at the Vikings and Devin Hester gone from the Bears. I know Allen was at KC, but it's still hard to picture him as anything other than a Viking these days.

Last edited by Demilich on Tue Mar 31, 2020 8:09 pm, edited 15 times in total.

Seahawks have ditched Red Bryant and Sidney Rice so far, given themselves a bit of breathing room. Hopefully with the salary cap bump there's enough space to re-sign Bennett and start locking down Thomas and Sherman.

There's talk on the news in the Bay Area that Harbaugh and Kaepernick both want to be the based paid in their job in the league. Harbaugh was on the other day completely denying it and saying it's not about the money, but Kaep does appear to want more money than Tom Brady for winning less Superbowls than Tom Brady.

If I was a 9er right now, and especially a player like Kaepernick who's central to the team, I'd be focusing on "what do we do to make that next step." So hopefully this is all just agents blowing smoke, because this really is an exciting SF team and I want to see them do well this year and not just implode.

There's talk on the news in the Bay Area that Harbaugh and Kaepernick both want to be the based paid in their job in the league. Harbaugh was on the other day completely denying it and saying it's not about the money, but Kaep does appear to want more money than Tom Brady for winning less Superbowls than Tom Brady.

If I was a 9er right now, and especially a player like Kaepernick who's central to the team, I'd be focusing on "what do we do to make that next step." So hopefully this is all just agents blowing smoke, because this really is an exciting SF team and I want to see them do well this year and not just implode.

I'll have a word with CK& for you DOB, then make sure Harb stays in line. All will be OK.

Actually, I also heard about a bit of dissention in the ranks - players tired of Harb's antics. Most likely all made up media shit, but you know what they say about smoke and fire.

There's talk on the news in the Bay Area that Harbaugh and Kaepernick both want to be the based paid in their job in the league. Harbaugh was on the other day completely denying it and saying it's not about the money, but Kaep does appear to want more money than Tom Brady for winning less Superbowls than Tom Brady.

If I was a 9er right now, and especially a player like Kaepernick who's central to the team, I'd be focusing on "what do we do to make that next step." So hopefully this is all just agents blowing smoke, because this really is an exciting SF team and I want to see them do well this year and not just implode.

I'll have a word with CK& for you DOB, then make sure Harb stays in line. All will be OK.

Actually, I also heard about a bit of dissention in the ranks - players tired of Harb's antics. Most likely all made up media shit, but you know what they say about smoke and fire.

Hope not - for my sake.

Good business signing Boldin again. He rubbished the rumours of the players getting cheesed off with Harbaugh. I would say Harbaugh can indeed be a tad eccentric, he seems to be a borderline loon at times. But he's a damn good coach....New stadium as well next season of course.

Ware gone from the Cowboys, he's past his prime now. Holmes and Cromartie gone from the Jets....

Edelman will test the market which I'm not keen on, I want him to stay in NE. I hope we can keep Talib as well.

There's talk on the news in the Bay Area that Harbaugh and Kaepernick both want to be the based paid in their job in the league. Harbaugh was on the other day completely denying it and saying it's not about the money, but Kaep does appear to want more money than Tom Brady for winning less Superbowls than Tom Brady.

If I was a 9er right now, and especially a player like Kaepernick who's central to the team, I'd be focusing on "what do we do to make that next step." So hopefully this is all just agents blowing smoke, because this really is an exciting SF team and I want to see them do well this year and not just implode.

Kaep is the weakness in that team, they are stacked throughout. They need a decent pocket QB.

I agree that Kaepernick is not quite as good as he likes to think he is and the $18m he is asking for is just too high.

They hark on about his playoff record because he has more road wins than Montana and Young combined but there us a reason, those guys got it done in the regular season and didn't need to go on the road in the playoffs.

He has more Super Bowl loses in his 2 years as starter that Montana and Young combined. He is not a great pocket passer, throws an awesome ball on the move but until he gets he feet set and stops staring down his receivers he'll be second rate. Still like him, hope we keep him, but the price has to be right.

The Panthers are in serious trouble with their secondary now. The Saints and the Falcons are big passing teams, if the Bucs can pick up someone across from Jackson they could cause some havoc too. And speaking of the Bucs, they've picked up Verner so surely Revis will go. Byrd to the Saints is a great get for them.

Something had to eventually go the Raiders way and they lucked out of a massive "overs" contract on the physical.

Can't see them picking up any bargains in free agency though, when everyone knows they're willing to over pay.

I see the Broncos offered Jared Allen the same deal they offered Ware, and that he wanted to take it, but they put it on hold when Ware became available. Ouch. That'd be one hell of a chip on his shoulder if he went somewhere like... the Pats.

I really don't understand one thing about the draft. How do they choose what type of player will be first pick that year, is it random, based on overall stats, or is there an order to it?

They don't. The team that finishes dead motherless last chooses which ever player from the draft they want (the players in the draft are the ones leaving the college game and declaring for the NFL). The team that finished second to last chooses from what is left. And so on.

So the team with the first over all pick takes what ever player they think they need.

Good example is the Texans picking first over all this year. They have a need for a Quarter-back, which is often taken first over all in the draft. There is a good chance they won't take a quarter-back however, as they may feel that the quarter-backs available don't fit their need or that another player would help them more. They may feel they are actually better to take Jadaveon Clowney (a defensive player) who many consider to be the most "sure-thing" to succeed from this draft class, or even Sammy Watkins who is a particularly good wide-receiver prospect.

I really don't understand one thing about the draft. How do they choose what type of player will be first pick that year, is it random, based on overall stats, or is there an order to it?

They don't. The team that finishes dead motherless last chooses which ever player from the draft they want (the players in the draft are the ones leaving the college game and declaring for the NFL). The team that finished second to last chooses from what is left. And so on.

So the team with the first over all pick takes what ever player they think they need.

Good example is the Texans picking first over all this year. They have a need for a Quarter-back, which is often taken first over all in the draft. There is a good chance they won't take a quarter-back however, as they may feel that the quarter-backs available don't fit their need or that another player would help them more. They may feel they are actually better to take Jadaveon Clowney (a defensive player) who many consider to be the most "sure-thing" to succeed from this draft class, or even Sammy Watkins who is a particularly good wide-receiver prospect.

Oh. I thought it was whoever has first pick, chooses the first ranked player and so on.

I really don't understand one thing about the draft. How do they choose what type of player will be first pick that year, is it random, based on overall stats, or is there an order to it?

They don't. The team that finishes dead motherless last chooses which ever player from the draft they want (the players in the draft are the ones leaving the college game and declaring for the NFL). The team that finished second to last chooses from what is left. And so on.

So the team with the first over all pick takes what ever player they think they need.

Good example is the Texans picking first over all this year. They have a need for a Quarter-back, which is often taken first over all in the draft. There is a good chance they won't take a quarter-back however, as they may feel that the quarter-backs available don't fit their need or that another player would help them more. They may feel they are actually better to take Jadaveon Clowney (a defensive player) who many consider to be the most "sure-thing" to succeed from this draft class, or even Sammy Watkins who is a particularly good wide-receiver prospect.

Oh. I thought it was whoever has first pick, chooses the first ranked player and so on.

Nah. The pre-draft rankings (mock drafts) you see are just various expert's guessing as to who is going to select whom. They are rarely correct, beyond a handful of selections.

Veldheer and Houston are gone, and Reggie signs Saffold for more money than Veldheer.

Run DMC back for another 4 games at 4 million, and Jennings is gone.

Quote:

Steve Corkran@CorkOnTheNFL Retweeted by Frank SchwabTo recap: Raiders lost best RB, yet signed RB that averaged 3.3 yards past two seasons; lost left OT, signed guy went from LT to RT to G.

$60 million under the cap and they look like they'll actually manage to make the team worse. That is a serious talent in itself. Bring back Al!

It's depressing, they've become a joke franchise which is a stark contrast to what they were like back in the early 80's when I started supporting them.

That said I'm incredibly excited to get the opportunity to fulfil a 25 year ambition to watch them play and I don't have to travel 9000 miles to do it. Hopefully they'll bring a few of my boyhood favourites - Marcus Allen, Matt Millen, Howie Long, Todd Christensen etc. They could give them a game.

Raiders signed James Jones. Which is a good signing. But is more note-worthy in the fact that the Panthers didn't sign him. And haven't signed any wide receivers after letting theirs walk. Their current roster of WRs have a combined 2 NFL catches.

Cam ain't going to be happy.

And Rex Ryan is apparently far from happy that he didn't get Revis or DRC.

I'd like to see an improved performance from the Texans, which considering they finished last in 2013 isn't asking too much.

Even as an Aggie, I'm hoping they don't waste the number 1 draft pick on pick Manziel, Bridgewater is a better choice at QB, but DE Clowney is most likely, given how utter shit the defence was last year.

Imagine how different the sport would be if they were taught how to tackle.

Yeah seriously. I've got no idea why they're all so bad. Would be such an easy fix and would make a huge amount of difference. I wonder if it's the obsession with putting in the huge hit that stops them putting in a fairly conventional rugby style tackle?

Seahawks have ditched Red Bryant and Sidney Rice so far, given themselves a bit of breathing room. Hopefully with the salary cap bump there's enough space to re-sign Bennett and start locking down Thomas and Sherman.

The Jags have signed him. Saw him recently with Gus Bradley, he's a very large gentleman.